Kristen Maloney, the 16-year-old Allentown Parkettes gymnast from Pen Argyl, had the strongest United States performance Monday in the opening round of competition at the World Gymnastics Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Maloney, one of only three Americans to compete in all four events, compiled an all-around score of 37.130 and had the best showings on both balance beam (9.525) and floor exercise (9.512).

She also had 9.187 on uneven bars and 8.906 on vault.

The Americans had an all-around total of 146.757, with 37.199 on floor exercise, 36.898 on vault, 36.549 on uneven bars and 36.111 on balance beam. Maloney's beam routine proved critical in the outcome.

The United States will not know until today whether it is one of the six teams that will compete in the team finals on Thursday night. At the World Championships, teams are split into eight subdivisions for the first round.

"I wanted to stay calm, stay focused, remember to breathe and try not to worry about other things going on around me," said Maloney, who finished fourth in the USA Championships to earn her berth on the World Championship team.

Two misses on the uneven bars during the USA Championships kept Maloney from perhaps winning the all-around -- certainly, challenging for the title. Her score Monday was better than in either round of the national meet.

Kristy Powell and Dominique Moceanu were the only other Americans to compete on all four apparatus, with Powell getting an all-around score of 36.048 and Moceanu coming in at 35.899. Moceanua was a member of the United States team that won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games but has not been competing the new routines regularly.

Mohini Bhardwaj had the United States' best vault, a 9.493; and Powell's 9.387 led the Americans on the bars.

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Meanwhile, led by uneven bars Olympic and world champion Svetlana Chorkina, Russia took the lead over arch-rivals China and Romania in the qualifying round of the World Gymnastics Championships.

Chorkina, who earned the highest all-round score of 38.824 points, received the best marks in the uneven bars and balance beam, and co-led the vault, which qualified her for the four individual events. Her brilliant performance helped Russia to the top of the team standings with 153.301 points.

Though dominating the uneven bars with four of the top five scores on the apparatus, China was clearly no match for Russia, and was forced to settle for second, trailing by 1.256.

Romania, which trailed Ukraine after three events, moved into third with 151.469 after superior floor performances by Olympic vault and floor bronze medalist Gina Gogean, Claudia Presecan and Alexandra Marinescu.

Despite the loss of two of its top competitors, including injured Olympic all-round and floor champion Lilia Podkopayeva, Ukraine turned in a courageous performance and was fourth with 149.382.

France finished fifth, just .433 ahead of the United States which sits on the bubble in sixth with 146.757.

The U.S. team, weakened by the absence of three of its top women, eked a small but very important lead over Belarus, keeping alive hopes of making the team competition as only the top six teams qualify.

The Americans appeared somewhat nervous, turning in slightly shaky if consistent performances.

"I feel really good because Belarus is a big contender," U.S. women's coach Mary Lee Tracy said. "That was one of the teams I felt we needed to stay in front of, to be in the top six.

"We had one kind of low score but other than that we did OK. That was the test."

The championships will be a test for all of the world's gymnastics powers, most of whom have seen a dramatic turnover since the Olympics.

The United States has just one member of its 1996 Olympic women's gold medal team, 15-year-old Moceanu.

This world championship team was forced to leave 15-year-old co-national champion Vanessa Atler at home, along with two other top-six finishers at the U.S. championships, all too young to compete in Lausanne.

The gap left room for Moceanu, ninth all-round at the nationals in Denver, and the only member on the women's team with any significant international exposure.

Even 17-year-old Powell, who shared the U.S. championship two weeks ago with Atler, has only had very limited international experience.

Today, South Korea, Australia, Uzbekistan and Germany will compete in the qualifying but are unlikely to upset any of the top six teams already in place.